Over 1,500 cattle and sheep on farms where bluetongue was found

There are around 1,250 cattle and just over 300 sheep in the herds where the bluetongue-3 virus has been confirmed.

Last week saw the Department of Agriculture confirm that bluetongue cases had been picked up on other farms within the vicinity of the farm near Blackwater, Co Wexford where the virus was first flagged as present during surveillance testing.

Follow-up tracing determined that one of the cattle that left the farm where the first case came from was found to also have had bluetongue before it was moved in early January.

This animal left the suckler herd and joined a beef herd just north of Duncannon, near Wexford’s border with Waterford.

Restrictions

There are over 400 cattle and 300 sheep on this impacted farm, with movement restrictions now in place.

Just under 150 susceptible cattle are on another farm where another case was picked up last week, there are 450 cattle on another, over 120 on another and over 80 on yet another farm with the virus.

The Department has said that the risk of onward transmission at this time is low, as the virus needs temperatures above 12°C for a number of days to replicate.

No control zones had been put in place last week due to this low risk of onward transmission, but the Department has said that this could change depending on the disease situation later into the year.